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What is going on at Crozet

Chris Packard would like everyone to know what is really going on at Crozet.

My wife (Heather Packard) and I (Chris Packard) have been members of OCCsince 2002. I changed my email address a couple of years ago and have notbeen able to post on the lists since that time, but I have been regularlyfollowing them. Posts of late, like the one below, motivated me to fix myYahoo ID so that I can speak up and let everyone know the truth of what isgoing on.

My wife and I haven't been able to make a meeting in some time, so I thoughtit might be helpful for me to "introduce" us. For roughly the past 10 years,we have resided on the property that many people in the wheeling communityrefer to as "Crozet". We truly appreciate the support quite a few of youhave offered and continue to offer.

I would like to clear up some misconceptions. First, "Crozet" has never beena "park". It is private property surrounding the house where my wife and Ireside, and it is maintained by the non-profit club, Rockcrawlers for thePreservation of Future Access (www.RCPFA.com). My wife and I lease theproperty from the landholders who are also our neighbors, and they have beenfully aware of the rock crawling activities for as long as they haveoccurred. In fact, permission for use of the property in this manner was acontingency for us when we sold our home and moved to this property nearly adecade ago. Please note that my wife and I are members of RCPFA (as well asOCC, VA4WD, and UFWDA), helped to establish and nurture the growth anddevelopment of RCPFA, and we serve in an advisorial capacity for the RCPFABoard of Directors (BOD) who are elected by the club membership, but we arenot BOD members.

In order for people to wheel on this property, there have traditionally beentwo options. First, membership in RCPFA has conveyed the ability for someoneto wheel on the property at any time it was not officially closed (the clubmaintains a calendar of activities via the forum referenced above). Thisincluded member-only events, "open" events, and the ability for two or moremembers to organize, with permission from the RCPFA BOD, a run of their own.Second, the club has, for several years now, organized periodic "open"events. These have typically been in conjunction with fund-raising and/orcharity events (examples include an annual event around Memorial Day weekendto support and raise money for the EOD Wounded Warriors Foundation, anannual event in December to drive toy donations for Toys for Tots and fooddonations for the local Blue Ridge Area Community Food Bank, and periodicevents to drive awareness/membership for organizations like UFWDA and TreadLightly). These "open" events, in addition to being charitable functions,have also served as opportunities for nonmembers to get a sense of theproperty/obstacles before committing to RCPFA membership. In addition tomaintaining the "Crozet" property, RCPFA has and continues to organizeactivities outside of the "Crozet" property (eg., club representation atevents such as Big Dogs and cleanup-type activities on other public andprivate trails). To be clear, RCPFA exists in and on its own outside of theadopted "Crozet" property it maintains.

There is a great deal of speculation on the Internet and across the variouswheeling community/club forums (and, frankly, very little truth/fact-baseddetails of the actual situation).

The truth is that we have a neighbor about one mile away at the very end ofBearwood Road (he lives at the intersection of Rt 810 and Bearwood Road),and he does not like traffic. In fact, he has been a thorn in the sides ofour other neighbors, including the landholders themselves, for quite sometime. He incorrectly refers to Bearwood Road (which is a state road for aportion of its mile length, including the area nearest him) as part of hisdriveway/private property, and he has made past complaints about local womenwho have temporarily parked their vehicles on the side of Bearwood Road inorder to jog/run more safely than they can do on Rt 810. He has made similarcomplaints of horseback riders and has even complained about the noisecoming from the commercial activity of the orchard packing facility near hishome. Please note that his mother has lived in the nearby home/complexreferred to as the "Rockery" for many years before he moved into this house(sold to him by his mother) roughly 3 years ago, and it is impossible forhim to have not been aware of the activity that has been occurring on thisproperty for nearly a decade. He is self-employed (he sells pornograghy oneBay), and he clearly has a lot of time on his hands. He has frankly made ita personal vendetta to stop vehicles from driving by his home on theweekends, and he has attempted to disguise this vendetta as an ecologicalcompliant. In fact, with the assistance from a couple of his friends, hecreated a FaceBook page (defunct after 2 days in existence) designed topromulgate his propaganda. When one of the landholders posted on thatFaceBook page that he was incorrect that this property is in the watershedof the Beaver Creek Dam (it actually starts lower down on other propertymaintained in conservation by the landholding family), he immediatelydeleted her post.

As we have well-known since we moved, this property we reside on is part ofa land conservation easement held jointly by the Virginia Outdoor Foundation(VOF) and the Albemarle County Department of Parks and Recreation. On 22ndMarch, we received a visit from both of these entities (they have conductedsite inspections in past as part of their standard operating procedures). Weare waiting for a written notice of their official determination, but whilethey were touring the property, they stated that they could find nothing ofconcern to immediately address. Please note that recreational use of theland is expressly permitted as part of the land conservation easements.

Additionally, as the result of this neighbor's complaint, we were alsovisited on that same day by 2 representatives of the local Albemarle CountyZoning department (they are required to respond/investigate any complaintthey receive). They initially expressed some concern about the potential forRCPFA activities conducted on the "Crozet" property being viewed ascommercial in nature and potentially requiring a special use permit, pendingthe overall number of such events. Specifically, the collection of daily orweekend registration fees, while administrative in nature rather than beingassociated in any way with land-use fees, could have the appearance ofcommercial activity. These have ceased to exist. Additionally, becauseattendance at past "open" events have been made available outside of RCPFAmembership, they felt this could give the appearance of being open to thepublic/publicly advertised.

The RCPFA BOD is currently in process of looking at the structure of RCPFAmembership to ensure that everything is in compliance with the AlbemarleCounty Zoning department's recent official letter and that it will also bein compliance with any requests (should these occur) from the entitiespreviously detailed above who dually hold the land conservation easements.

I hope that this will serve to put an end to the speculation and unfoundedinformation that is being circulated (i.e., what are these past permits we

have supposedly acquired?, where is this new venue we are considering?, whatdid we try in past and then were left alone?, etc.). I welcome any questionsor requests for clarification/more information, and you can reach me viapost on this list or contacting me directly.

If we were to ever cease the rock crawling activities on this property,please rest assured that it would simply be because the joy we experience inparticipating in this great sport and helping to nurture and preserve thatsame joy for our fellow community members has been overcome by the PITA ofhaving to speak the truth in the face of constant speculation and erroneous"facts", even if motivated from good intentions, rather than growing sick ofdealing with governmental entities and regulations.

Again, a very heart-felt gratitude to those of you who have already offeredyour assistance and support.